People From Venus may be one of the most aptly named bands on the local circuit — it can seem, at certain musical moments, as though the band was beamed in from another planet. Take those weird, eerie beeps and bloops at the beginning of "Lipstick," the band's should-be-a-hit song. Is that the mothership calling frontman Paul Isaac back to wherever his otherworldly voice came from? In his high — but never piercing — croon, the thirsty Anglophile will find strong opening notes of Robert Smith, with a hint of Thom Yorke flavor.
And when the band rocks, it really rocks. While the aliens describe themselves on their MySpace page as a "pop electro punk band," what really comes through is a serious flavor of early glam, back when androgynous rocking Brits were equally space-obsessed. Think, perhaps, of 1972-era David Bowie taking a pause, occasionally, to tinker with a computer. Heady praise that is, true, but the band's songwriting polish promises great potential. And we're not the only ones to think so: Spin recently named People From Venus in its occasional web series "Seven Undiscovered Bands Worth a Listen."
